Confusion and Confessions
by wordsflowfreely
Summary: New school? New town? New friends? Same old Mikan. Let's see how this goes, shall we?
1. Chapter 1: Changes

_First Gakuen Alice FanFic so I have no idea how good this is._

_And of course, I do not own any of the characters._

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**Chapter 1: Changes**

**Mikan's POV:**

"_Gakuen Alice is now a safe haven for those lucky enough to have an Alice."_

I read the title of the news article on our school newspaper – which by the way is ran by the famous Hotaru Imai. They always write up an article similar to this one every single year since I was about 11 years old.

You see, Gakuen Alice hasn't always been like this. It use to be more like a prison than an actual school. Students were forced to go on dangerous missions even when their health was in jeopardy, no one was allowed in or out of the school, and there were cruel dictator-like people who would be plotting in their office for them to achieve their own selfish goals.

But now, things are different.

The teachers are kinder to the students, we're allowed to go on vacations to visit our families (although there are still a few safety precautions because there are still organizations that like to steal people with alices and then sell them), that cruel dictator has been stripped of his authority – but no one really knows specifically what happened to him – and even though there are still students who go off on missions, they do it of their own freewill and they're treated with much more respect now.

Some people say that this is all thanks to me, but I don't exactly understand what I did to be honest. The change in the academy happened when I was 10 years old, but all I did was let others protect me. That's probably one of my biggest regret in my life, allowing so many people to be hurt because I wasn't strong enough to protect them.

So if anything, I want to be able to protect the people around me from now on.

I want to see their smiles, lift their troubles and burdens off of their shoulders and hear their laughter fill the air. I want to be strong enough to protect everyone. That's why I begged my uncle to allow me to be trained by Persona despite the fact that everyone around me were against it. Natsume and I even had a really bad argument about it a few months ago…

_Flashback:_

"_Ne, Natsume? Don't you think it'd be cool if I Persona trained me?" I asked while the two of us were sitting beneath our Sakura tree._

"_Baka. Like you could last one day with him as your teacher." _

"_I could SO last it out!"_

"_Yeah right. What even gave you that stupid idea in the first place?"_

"_It's not a stupid idea! I want to help you and Tsubasa-senpai on those missions you two always go on! I hate seeing you two with all those scratches and bruises whenever you come back!"_

"_Stupid. We'd get even more beat up having to protect you the whole time!"_

"_THAT'S WHY I WANT TO TRAIN!"_

"_Stop being so stupid already. You don't need to step any further into the darkness than you already have. Someone like you should just stay in the light where you belong. Got it?" _

_And then he just walked away from me, aggravated. _

_End flashback:_

Jeez. That guy is just so frustrating! If anyone should have been aggravated with him, it should have been me! I mean, it's not like I haven't stepped into the darkness before. Does he even realize just how much worse it was when we were younger? I could handle it, I'm not as weak as I use to be.

After that argument, I went off to my uncle and got him to agree with me, on the condition that no matter what I face I'd still come back smiling. This isn't much of a problem for me, when you're around people like Natsume and Hotaru all the time you need to laugh and smile even more for their sake.

I go on missions every now and then, usually on small ones. Natsume always gets mad at me when I'm off doing something, but he's getting use to the idea of it, especially since he knows that whatever he says to me won't make much of a difference in the way things are now. He's had enough time to realize just how stubborn I can get.

"AHHHH!"

I looked at the clock and realized that I was going to be late for class again if I don't hurry. Jeez, Hotaru was right, I shouldn't think so much.

I quickly rushed out the door and ran all the way to class. Thanks to all my training with Persona, I'd managed to get faster with my running.

"Ohayou, minna!" I yelled when I got into class.

"Ohayou!"

My class hasn't changed very much since I was 10 years old. Most of the students were still the same faces I've known, although now we've all grown up a lot since we've reached the ages of 14 and 15.

"HOTARUU!" I said running up to my best friend. I gave her a really big hug – or at least I tried to give her one – and like always she hit me with her famous Baka gun.

_**Baka! Baka! Baka! **_

I avoided the first two, but the last one ended up hitting me square in the face.

"Damn it. You're getting better at that."

"Of course! I've been working really hard lately!"

"Idiot." She really loves me a lot!

She went back to tinkering with her latest gadget, so I walked over to my seat, still next to Natsume. "Ohayou, Natsume. Ruka-pyon" I said with a smile.

"Ohayou, Sakura-san."

Of course, no reply from Natsume, he's probably asleep underneath his manga. It's hard to believe he's actually been my boyfriend for the past three years.

I lifted the manga off his face. "Oy! Polka. I was sleeping."

"Mou. Class hasn't even started yet, and you're already asleep."

"Just be happy that I'm even here in the first place."

Why is he being extra grouchy today? Oh, right. It's probably because I was off on a mission over the weekend. He always gets grumpy when I've been gone. I started smiling knowing that he's grumpy because he's worried about me.

"Oy! What are you smiling about?"

"It's a secret!" I started giggling as he glared at me slightly, but I just walked off towards my other friends.

"Ne, Mikan-chan, are you really still going out with Natsume?" Nonoko said to me innocently

"Hai!" I said with my usual enthusiasm. My friends were silent for a while, "Huh? What is it?"

"It's just that… he doesn't really act like it, you know?" Anna shyly replied.

I gave them a small smile, "That's just how he is… Natsume… he's really very shy actually. He doesn't show his emotions to others very well, and he comes off as a cold, distant, mean person, but he's really very sweet!" I said making my smile bigger, and my cheeks turned redder.

"You're right, that does seem like the kind of person Natsume is."

"Yes! Yes! You wouldn't believe it, but the times when he doesn't put on his tough guy act makes him so cute! When he's smiling, or even when he's showing his concer—"

"Oy! Polka, what are you saying." Natsume came up from behind me and started pulling me back to our seat by the head. He looks a little irritated, like the way he always is when you make him sound like a big softy, but his face just makes me want to smile even more.

I started laughing at his reaction after he overheard the things that I said about him.

"Why are you always laughing for no reason?"

"Hehe…nothing." I said giving him a big smile. Even though most people couldn't see it, the corners of his lips rose slightly which means he's happy that I'm happy, and that just ended up making me smile even more.

The rest of the morning went by with the same teachers we've had since we were in the elementary division. Nothing out of the ordinary happened today, if you could count people trying to burn their English teacher and a teacher who punishes students by hitting them with a little lightening normal.

During our fourth class, I started dozing off and getting tired of our lessons. Misaki –sensei was trying to teach our class something about photosynthesis but not many people were paying very much attention.

Suddenly, Persona entered the classroom, "Excuse me, can I get Mikan? The High School Principal wanted a word with her."

"Hai. Mikan, please hurry back as soon as you can, and please get the notes that you miss in class from someone afterwards."

"Hai, Sensei." I could feel Natsume's glares as I walked out of the room.

"Oji-san! It's good to see you today!" I said as I ran up to give him a hug.

"Hai, hai! It's good to see you too Mikan-chan. But, I'm afraid I have a favor to ask of you, although you don't have to agree to it."

"What is it, Oji-san?"

"You see. Recently, we've been hearing reports of crimes going on in a small town just outside of Tokyo. We believe that these incidents have been the work of an Alice user. The police haven't gotten involved in these matters as of yet, and we don't want them to. So, I am asking you to go there and investigate things there."

"Hai! You can count on me!"

"Demo. This could be very dangerous, and you will have to stay in that town for over a year."

"Even if I resolve things?"

"This mission isn't just about stopping the crimes. Although that is a big part of the problem, what we really want you to focus on is finding the ones who possesses an Alice."

"But why a year? A mission like this could be taken care of within a month, couldn't it?"

"It takes a while for them to completely accept the fact that they are an Alice, and convincing them as well as their parents that they should go to Gakuen Alice could take a bit of persuading. Not only that, but we need that area surveyed because we want to make sure that any problems within that town has stopped." Uncle paused slightly after saying that, "Like I've said, you are allowed to deny this request if you so wish. However, if you are to accept this mission, then you are not allowed to have any contact with this school other than myself to give reports every few weeks so we won't draw too much attention to ourselves."

"Um…" I had to think about this. I wanted to help, I really did, but leaving this school for a year? In the past five years, I've only left for at most two weeks. I wouldn't be able to see any of my friends in such a long time, not even Hotaru or Natsume… "I'll—"

"Would you like more time to think about it, Mikan-chan?" Uncle said to me with a small smile.

"Yes, Ojisan."

"Then why don't you let me know within twenty four hours, alright?"

"Hai…"

After that, he sent me back to my classes. We had spent the rest of the school day discussing the mission. I really don't know what to do about this mission; I don't want to let my uncle down especially after all the trouble I had caused them before, but how could I leave this school. It's become my home in the last few years. I know, I'll ask Natsume about it. Hotaru is busy working on her invention that she's going to be selling to some foreign company so she needs to focus on that.

_Third Person POV_

During the time that Natsume was waiting for his beloved Mikan to return to the classroom, he ended up coming across a very interesting person. A girl with strawberry blonde hair and devilish green eyes entered the class room.

"Tsuki Rabu." Natsume said coldly.

After Sumire gave up being the leader of the Natsume Huuyga fan club, she decided to leave the title of leader to Tsuki. Since she was the new leader, she ended up becoming Mikan Sakura's worst enemy, despite the fact that Mikan is too much of an airhead to realize this.

"Hello, Natsume-kun. How are you today?" Tsuki said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"Ne, Natsume. Do you wanna go out and do something tonight?" she gave her best fake smile.

"No."

"Demo, demo! It'll be a lot of fun!"

"I love Mikan, so you should just give it up already."

"Why would you choose that pathetic little girl over me?"

"Because unlike you, she isn't fake."

"I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me with no choice. I just so happen to have a very, very erotic picture here of Sakura, it'd be a shame of if this fell into the wrong hands."

"Tch. Stupid, she would never take a picture like that."

"Perhaps, but you must admit, this picture is rather convincing. You'd be amazed with all of the disturbing things some techies can do with photoshop."

"Who made it?"

"Well, I'm afraid that's a secret, however this picture won't stay secret for very long if you don't do as I say. Unless you're willing to let this picture get into the hands of someone else, someone who will do much more scandalous things with it rather than just force you to do a few little things for me."

Natsume burned the picture despite the fact that he had promised Mikan that he wouldn't use his Alice unless it was an emergency. However, to Natsume, this was an emergency.

"You naughty, naughty little boy… I do hope you realize that a picture like this is first saved on the computer, meaning it can't be erased by such a small little fire."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Simple. Crush Mikan's heart, and go out with me."

"I hope you realize that I will find a way to get out of this."

"Not unless you want your _precious_ Mikan to be hurt by the shame and humiliation that she'll receive once this picture goes viral." She said with an evil smirk on her face. "Now, according to my sources, Mikan-chan will be entering the classroom within ten minutes, so I'm going to be near by watching as you break that poor little girl's heart. Okay."

The one thing that Natsume had in his mind were a series of murder scenes involving a 15 year old girl with blonde hair and green eyes getting killed repeatedly by our very own fire caster.

The minutes ticked as Natsume waited anxiously for Mikan to enter the classroom. He was dreading the words he would have to say to the girl he loves with all his heart. How badly does he have to crush her heart?

The room was silent as he kept hearing the clock tick.

_Tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock._

Natsume had never heard silence so loud. He looked at the clock, she'll be here any second he thought to himself. Suddenly, he heard footsteps outside. Somehow, Natsume was able to tell that those were the footsteps of the girl he loves. Would he be able to bear it when he hears those footsteps walking away from him?

"_Okay, calm yourself. You have to do this. You'll find a way out. It's just like what happened with Luna. Mikan never lost faith in you. Stoic expression." _Natsume had to remind himself that a problem like this will be resolved somehow.

And the door started to open up, and Mikan came into view. For once in his life, Natsume hated seeing the smile on the girls face, because he knew that he'd be the one to break that smile.

"NATSUME!" she yelled as she ran up to hug her boyfriend, oblivious to what was about to happen to her.

Natsume had to fight with his own body to keep from hugging her back.

"Oh! Natsume-kun! You'll never believe what the high scho-"

"Get off." He said loudly but devoid of any feeling.

"What?" she let go of him slightly, revealing her confused and slightly pained expression. She put her hand on his face to make sure he knew that she was there for him if he needed.

"I said, 'Get off'"

"But why? What did I do wrong Natsume?"

"You're annoying, and clingy. I'm done with you." He could see tears in Mikan's eyes and it took everything within him not to hug her and kiss her and make all the pain go away for the both of them.

"You're not acting like yourself, Natsume! What's wrong? Why are you being like this?" Her voice was getting quieter, and quieter. She was fighting back tears and trying to keep her voice steady.

"….There's someone else that I love now." The words were like acid to his mouth. No, it was even worse than that.

Just then, Tsuki entered the classroom. "Yeah, Sakura. Just give him up already. He's chosen me."

"No…no…NO! Natsume! I refuse to believe this is true! If this is supposed to be a joke, then it's not funny! Not even a little!" she started crying as she went to grab Natsume's hand.

"Look, honey. Getting dumped is humiliating enough at least try and keep whatever dignity you have left to yourself. Nat-kun picked me over you, get over it already, right?

Natsume squeezed Mikan's hand for the last time, as if saying _'I'm sorry, I'll fix this somehow'_ to her. He slapped her hand away, and when over to Tsuki. He put his arm around her shoulder, he felt as if he were touching an alien body, and walked away.

Mikan stood there with her mouth opened in shock at the scene that had just unfolded before her. She had tears streaming down her face, and she knew that the last thing she wanted was to see anyone. Mikan teleported herself to her bed room, and she spent the rest of the day crying her eyes out.

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_Review please! _


	2. Chapter 2: Goodbye Gakuen!

_Here's chapter 2! I'm sorry that it's pretty boring, but I promise it'll get much better later on!_

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**Chapter 2: Goodbye Gakuen!**

Hotaru and Ruka walked into the Special Abilities classroom and weren't surprised at all at the chaos that they saw before them. With so many different Alices, it's hard to have a day where things weren't interesting.

"Kage. Where's Mikan?" Hotaru asked in a monotonous voice, but anyone who knew her could tell that she was concerned.

"She disappeared yesterday during class and we haven't seen her since. We got worried about her and didn't know where she was."

"I was just about to go over to you guys to see if she was there. It's not like her to skip class, even though we barely even do anything…" Tsubasa sounded concerned and worried about his little Kohai, who wasn't so little anymore. "Maybe she's out on a mission?"

"She would have said so."

"Imai-san, maybe Natsume knows where Sakura is?"As soon as Ruka mentioned Natsume's name, he was immediately hit by a blast from her Baka Cannon. "Itai! Imai! What was that for?"

"Do. Not. Speak. That. Name." she clearly knew that Natsume was involved in the missing Mikan situation, and clearly his involvement was not a positive one.

"Wait a minute Hotaru, why did you do that?"

Hotaru was so mad that she couldn't even reply to them. Instead, she showed them a picture of Natsume with his arms around Tsuki and then another picture of Mikan crying her eyes out as she saw them walk away.

"WHAT IS THIS?" Tsubasa said out of anger.

"WHY DO YOU THINK I WANT TO KNOW WHERE MIKAN IS?"

"What are you screaming about?" Misaki walked over to where the commotion was and when she saw the picture her reaction was exactly the same as the Shadow wielder.

"What's going on? And if you had this picture, wouldn't you be able to find Mikan?" Misaki asked her in wonder.

"I tried that but I couldn't find a trace of her anywh—I AM SUCH AN IDIOT! HER ROOM! OF COURSE." Although she may be a genius there were clearly too many times when she would over look the obvious because of her worry.

She ran off towards the dorms without caring very much about what the others were about to do.

Tsubasa crumpled up the picture that he had in his hands and tossed it across the room in anger, "He's going to pay for making Mikan cry." Over the years that the two have known each other the two have grown to develop a brother/sister like relationship that's been proven to be much stronger than the sibling bonds between real siblings.

He started walked out in search of Natsume but Misaki stopped him. "What are you doing? Let me go! Why are you protecting that little bastard?"

"I'm not trying to protect him, because he DOES deserve a punch or two, but do you even know where he is?"

"….No." He said trying to calm himself down.

"Exactly, and I don't know about you, but I want to find out what Ruka thinks of this." She looked towards him.

Ruka was still standing there, trying to collect his thoughts. He had never been one to be very rash, and he was often trying his best to keep calm. He wanted to defend his best friend, but what could he say to defend him with? He had hurt Sakura, and that was not okay, but why would he hurt her? He adores Sakura-san with all his heart and soul, and why Tsuki?

"I think that this is far more complicated than it appears to be. Knowing Natsume, he's doing this because someone forced him to, but he still hurt Mikan and that's not okay."

"I'm still going to punch that guy right in the face!" Tsubasa said, still angry over what happened.

"He's probably at the Sakura tree."

And without another word, Tsubasa was gone.

"Hey, Ruka, why did you tell him? He's just going to punch Natsume."

"If he doesn't find him then he'll never be able to calm down, and at least this way we might be able to find some out what's going on. Besides, I have a feeling that Natsume wants to punish himself just as much as we want to punish him."

"You have a good point there. Now, let's go. We better make sure Tsubasa won't kill him just in case he turns out NOT to be a total douche."

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"Mikan! Oy, Mikan! Open up already!" Hotaru said as she knocked on the door to Mikan's room.

She heard a click of the door which revealed a "smiling" Mikan. Hotaru walked into the room, wondering if the girl really was just putting on that happy act of hers for her sake, or if she was just in denial about it. She looked around her room, only to find something very odd.

"Mikan. What's with the suitcase on your bed?"

"Oh, uhm…I'm leaving the school…"

"What?"

"My uncle told me about a mission. I have to go to this town outside of Tokyo and search for a potential Alice and stop a few crimes that could be caused because of it. I'll be gone for a year."

"He's forcing you to go?"

"Oh, well, no he isn't. He said that I didn't have to go, but I accepted it."

"Does this have anything to do with what happened with Natsume?"

Mikan hollow, nervous laugh "Oh, of course not. What makes you say that?"

"You're a bad liar."

"Hehe… I guess you've always known me best, Hotaru."

"No. You're just a bad liar." She said bluntly. "Now tell me the truth. Are you leaving because of what happened with Natsume?"

"I really don't know, Hotaru. Maybe that's part of the reason, and maybe the other part is because I want to be able to help my Uncle. All I do know, is that I can't stay here. I need to get out of this place."

"Why?"

"I guess that's one of the answers I need to answer."

"Just promise me this, okay?"

"Nani?"

"Be careful." When she said those words Mikan smothered her with her hug.

"OF COURSE HOTARU! DON'T WORRY, I WON'T DIE OR ANYTHING! I'LL COME BACK AND GIVE YOU MORE HUGS!"

"Good. Because it'd be really bad if you don't come back—"

"Oh I really love it when you show your concern for me!"

"—because you owe me a lot of money."

Mikan sweat dropped when she heard the words come out of Hotaru's mouth. I suppose some things never change, she thought to herself. She smiled at her best friend, thinking about their separation, and suddenly she found herself with tears in her eyes.

Hotaru hugged her, "No tears, you'll look ugly. It's only for a year, right? We'll see each other again."

"Arigato."

* * *

"OY! HYUUGA! DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"Tch. Leave me alone, don't get involved in matters that don't concern you."

Tsubasa caught up to Natsume and was holding him against a tree by the collar of his shirt. "You hurt Mikan, this matter concerns me." He was ready to punch him.

"Protect her for me." Natsume said before any impact could be made towards his handsome face.

Tsubasa stopped his punch, "What? If you want to make sure she's protected then why don't you just go protect her yourself!"

"I am. I can't explain very much this way, but I am protecting her in my own way. I need someone else to protect her from other dangers."

"What's going on?"

"I'm figuring out a way to solve this, trust me."

"…." Tsubasa let go of Natsume. "If I find out you're lying—"

"I'm not. But just in case this can't be solved in the way I want it to be solved, it'd be better if Mikan didn't know anything."

"I still have no idea what's going on, but you've saved my life enough time to gain my trust. But just one more thing"

"Wha—"

Before he could even finish his first word Natsume was given Tsubasa's punch and was sent flying a few feet away. "That's for making her cry. If you hadn't said what you've just said, you would be nearly dead by now."

"Tch." Insert the famous Hyuuga smirk, "I deserved that."

_

* * *

And so the night appeared, and Mikan was ready to leave._

She teleported herself into her Uncle's office. Shiki was also there to say goodbye to her.

"Mikan, do you have everything you need?"

"Hai!" she said cheerfully, "I'm all set!"

"Do you have everything Mikan?"

"Yes, Shiki-san!" she smiled brightly at him.

"Extra alice stones, just in case?"

"Mou~ I have everything! Don't worry about me!" She never liked it when they worry about her too much because that just means they aren't as happy as they could be.

"Alright then. Remember, be careful and don't reveal that you're an alice unless it's an emergency. And don't forget, Z is still a threat to all alices so be sure to look out for any suspicious characters."

"Yes, yes I know. Hotaru-chan already gave me this speech before I left!"

"Okay, but before you leave with Persona, we have a surprise for you." HSP winked at her and smiled. "You can come in now."

As soon as he said that, Tsubasa entered the office. "SENPAI! What are you doing here?"

"And what are YOU doing trying to leave without saying goodbye to me?"

"AH! Gomen! I didn't mean to… I didn't say goodbye to anyone other than Hotaru-chan… sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"

"Hahahahaha. It's okay. I'll forgive you on one condition, okay?"

"Nani?" she asked as her guilt ebbed away.

"The condition is, you let me go with you."

"YES! YES!" she looked at her uncle and at Shiki. "Is this the surprise?"

"Yes." He smiled, "Tsubasa requested for this and we thought it'd be good if you had a friend near you."

"Requested?"

"I made a promise to someone that I'd protect you to the best of my ability."

"Arigato!" she said thinking that the person who asked him was Hotaru.

"Mikan-chan, you, Tsubasa and Persona are to appear as a regular family who have just moved into the town. You and Tsubasa are to search for alice users in the area, and Persona will scope out any suspicions."

"That old man's gonna stand out a lot if it's a small town. Even if it's in Tokyo he'd stand out."

"Who's an old man, Tsubasa-san?"

Tsubasa was frozen with fear when he heard Persona's voice, "Mikan! How many times have I told you not to call Persona an old man!"

"SENPAI!"

"Don't worry, Mikan-chan, I know you didn't say it."

Tsubasa turned around so he could apologize but when he say him, he stood there in shock. "You…you're not Persona!"

Persona had abandoned his mask and black trench coat, as well as changed the style of his hair and if it wasn't for his voice not many people would have recognized him. **(A/N he looks like the way he looked when he appeared in Natsume and Mikan's class as a sub)**

"Do you want to be grounded, _son_?"

Tsubasa had shivers going down his spine. Over the years of getting to know Mikan, Persona had loosened up. Persona himself had said _'it was as if Yukihara-sensei had come back in the form of his child' _and thus, a much more relaxed and softer Persona had come to be. It was still hard for some people to get use to the change.

They left the academy after the sun rose. The drive would take approximately 4 hours to get to the new town.

"Since we're going to be stuck in this car we need to come up with a good solid back story," Persona said calmly as he stopped at a red light. "It looks like there's going to be a lot of traffic…"

"So what's our back story, Persona?"

"You should get use to calling me Oto-san."

"Pers—Oto-san, what's the town name?"

"Kibo town." **(A/N according to google translate kibo means hope)**

"Town of Hope, huh?" Tsubasa said amusingly. "With that kind of name, it's too bad it's getting into a lot of trouble…"

"Ni-chan, what about our back story?"

"We move around a lot, that way we don't have to explain where we've come from too much."

"That also explains why Mikan-chan uses a Kansai dialect, and we use a Tokyo dialect." Persona agreed with his idea.

"What's our last names?" Tsubasa asked.

"Hmm…"

"Tanaka."

"Why that Mikan?"

"Because I like rice!" She smiled cheerfully. **(A/N Tanaka means middle of the rice field)**

During the rest of the car ride, they talked about their fake story, and Mikan started feeling guilty about all of the lies that she would have to tell.

* * *

They arrived at their new house at around 3 in the afternoon. It's a two story, light blue house. It was a very beautiful house, and all the furniture was western style. Mikan ran around the house searching every room, trying to familiarize herself with the surroundings. Finally she got upstairs and looked around.

"Ne, ne! Were the room assignments already decided?"

"Yes, but I think you'll like the room your uncle chose for you. First one on the left." Persona guided her.

She walked in, only to discover a beautiful room decorated in pinks and oranges. On one side of the room there was a drawing of a Sakura tree during the spring. On the side of the wall where her bed's headboard was against, was a picture frame with a collage of pictures of her and all of her friends and teachers in the academy. Of course, none of the pictures had anything that would lead to others thinking she was from Gakuen alice. She looked around some more, and realized that her closet was already filled with a lot of cute clothes that she instantly fell in love with, and then when she looked at her dresser (complete with a mirror) she found a lot of other cute jewelry. She then looked at the book shelves that were filled with a lot of great books. The top shelf also had a lot of cute stuffed animals that use to have a place in her room.

She loved her new room so much.

She walked over towards pink, orange and yellow polka dotted curtains and when she moved them aside, she discovered that she had a balcony that over looked the street in front of her house. The view that she saw was a very nice change compared to the view from outside her dorms window.

She could see that the town was pretty small, smaller than Gakuen Alice. She saw a bunch of people that were around her age walking out of what she thought was the school and she suddenly felt very nervous. How long had it been since she'd made any new friends? Gakuen Alice had just a little over 400 students, and there would probably half that many people in _just_ her grade. She knew that she was a friendly person, so making friends is easy for her, but this is the first time that she'd ever been in a bigger surrounding. Small village, small schools, the town before her suddenly seemed much more intimidating than she thought before.

"No big deal, Mikan! You'll just have to get use to it! No worried!" She said out loud.

"Talking to yourself again?"

"Sen—Nii-chan!"

"Don't worry about the bigger school. I'll be right there if you need me."

"You'll be in high school, and I'm still going to be in middle school."

"But the schools are right next to each other, only separated by a fence. If you need me, then don't be afraid to call," Mikan smiled up at her senpai. "And that reminds me, Persona told me to give you this."

He handed her a simple light pink cell phone. "Arigato!"

"He said that it's in case either of us get into any trouble. All of our numbers are already programmed into it."

* * *

"Ne, Persona, we haven't had lunch yet." Tsubasa said as his stomach grumbled.

"…"

"You don't know how to cook do you?"

"I've never had to before. Have you ever cooked before?"

"Does pouring cake batter into pans for the cake at the Christmas Ball count?"

"No."

"Then no."

"….."

While Persona and Tsubasa were busy trying to figure out what they were going to do, Mikan already started making some fried rice and seasoning the chicken she was going to bake to a golden brown.

"Is fried rice and baked chicken okay for lunch?" She called out from the kitchen.

Tsubasa and Persona walked in to see what their favorite brunet was making. "Waahh! Mikan-chan, you can cook!"

"I use to help Ji-chan all the time with the chores, and cooking was one of them, and at the school I use to cook food with Anna-chan all the time."

* * *

"Itadakimasu!"

"You two will be starting school tomorrow, is that okay?" Persona said as he ate his chicken.

"Oh! Oto-san, since it's September that means we're going to be entering school during the second term right?"

"Second? Wouldn't it be the third one?"

"Gakuen Alice has school year round, but regular schools have summer break between the first and second term." Explained Persona.

"Ehh? So I waste like what? Two months learning when everyone else is out partying?"

"Basically, yes."

Persona chucked at Tsubasa's overreaction, "I forgot that Tsubasa grew up in the academy this means he's more clueless than Mikan-chan."

"BANZAI!" Mikan was excited because for once, she was the smart one. "Oh! We don't have very much food in the kitchen. We need to go shopping."

"Do you want to go down to the shopping center then?" Tsubasa offered.

"You two can find your way by yourself, right? I wanted to go to the next town over and investigate some matters concerning the crime incidents."

"Incidents?...OH YEAH! That's why we're here!" Mikan had completely forgot about her original reason for coming here.

"Oy! You forgot already?"

"Hehehehehehe…."

Persona sighed to himself, "Yukihara-san figured this would happen… Anyways, here's some money for your shopping trip."

"Arigato!"

* * *

"Mouu~ Tsu—Nii-chan! Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Hai, hai. Don't worry, I'll find the store eventually."

Mikan was busy looking at her confused "brother" and accidently bumped into someone else.

"Itai!" she said as she hit the pavement.

"Ah! Gomen!" said the boy she had bumped into. The boy, who looked to be about her age, just a few inches taller than her and with sandy blonde/brown hair that resembled the style of hair that Ruka has, helped our heroine up from the ground. "I didn't mean to bump into you! I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's alright! I wasn't watching where I was going either." After dusting herself off she finally looked up at the boy, and realized that he had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen in her life.

"Mikan! Daijoubu desu ka?" Tsubasa said running up to her.

"Gomen! I accidently bumped into her!"

"AH! NO! it was my fault!"

The two of them then proceeded to apologize to each other repeatedly.

"Wow. Those two are a lot alike…" Tsubasa then noticed another boy standing near them chuckling. he looked to be around his age. Tsubasa looked closely and the first thought that he had was that he looked a lot like Kaname except he had the same color hair as the boy that bumped into Mikan. "Ah, sorry. I'm the squirts older brother, Haruto Mori."

"Tsubasa Tanaka. Elder brother of that little brat over there."

"AH! You're bleeding!" Said the younger brother.

"Hahaha. Akihiro, why don't we clean up her wound at our house then?" he turned to Tsubasa. "We live nearby."

"Ah yes! Can you walk?"

"Hai, it's not a big deal!" she smiled.

"It may get infected though, better safe than sorry, right?" He smiled at her.

She smiled back at him, "Hai!"

"My name is Mikan Tanaka by the way, what's yours?

"Akihiro Mori."

"Then can I call you Hiro-Kun?"

"Only if I can call you Mi-Chan."

"Hai!" Mikan thought that Hiro-Kun was a very nice person become friends with.

* * *

"And this is our house."

They arrived at a small, but cute, house that was actually just around the block from their house.

"You two are home already? Did you get me my candy?" said a girl that was around Mikan's age. "OH! WHAT A CUTE GIRL! HI-CHAN! WHY ARE YOU KEEPING THIS CUTE GIRL ALL TO YOURSELF?"

"I was not!" Hiro was blushing. "Sorry, this is my twin sister, Akira."

She had the same hair color as her brothers. However, her hair was much longer than theirs and she wore it in a half up, half down style with her bangs and a few stray strands of hair loose in front of her face. Her eyes were the same color as Haruto's crystal blue.

DO YOU WANT TO BECOME MY FRIEND?"

"YES! YOU'RE VERY CUTE TOO!" Mikan said with equal enthusiasm. "My name is Mikan! It's nice to meet you!"

"Ah! Mi-chi! You're bleeding!" she then slapped her twin brother playfully. "What did you do?"

"It was an accident!"

The two of them started arguing about other nonsense like a typical brother and sister.

"Just ignore them for now," Haruto said walking Mikan to their couch in the living room. He was holding a first aid kit and was taking some things out. "They're always like that. Lots of energy and very bright people just like their names."

He fixed up Mikan's bleeding knee very quickly. "Wow! You're good at that!"

"I have to be good at fixing up wounds. Those two are always falling and hurting themselves."

"Are you okay now, Mikan?" Tsubasa chimed in.

"Hai!" she smiled. "Oh! Nii-chan! We still need to go shopping!"

"Oh, right. Ne, Haru, can you point us in the direction of the shopping center?"

"We can go together then. Akihiro and I were on our way there when we bumped into each other."

"Can I go with you guys then?" Akira said completely ignoring her arguments with Akihiro.

"Did you finish your homework?"

"I'll be in my room then…" she started walking up to her room.

Mikan ran up behind her and hugged her, "We can play when you're finished then, kay?" she smiled.

Akira then tackled her, "YOU'RE SO CUTE MI-CHI! I'll be done with all my work when you guys get back then!"

"HAIII!" Mikan was very happy to have made new friends on her first day. But no matter how hard she tried, she still missed Natsume and couldn't help but feel like something was wrong.

_

* * *

In the Academy_

_Natsume's POV_

"Natsume-kunn~~" Ugh, it's her again. I swear when I solve this problem I'm going to remove her vocal cords in a very violent way.

"What?"

"Let's go on a date!"

No. "Sure," I hate you; I don't want to spend time with you. "Sounds fun."

"Oh! Did you hear? Mikan left the academy!"

After her vocal cords, I'll claw her eyes out too.

"I hear it was because of _you_."

"Tch. Annoying."

"I'm not annoying at all, only an annoying person would send that picture out all over the academy, right?"

"Hnng."

She gave a sly smile, "Now, do you love me?"

No. My heart only belongs to Mikan. "Yes."

I'm sorry, Mikan. I'll fix this somehow, I promise.

* * *

_Review please! I'd love to know what you all think!_


	3. Chapter 3: The Old and the New

So, here is chapter 3! Thank you for the reviews and the constructive criticism. I tried to fix up the errors, but I'm sure there are still some here so I'm sorry for that.

**

* * *

Chapter 3: The New and the Old**

_Mikan's POV_

Today was a good day, despite the fact that I'd been dumped two days ago.

Aki-chan and Hiro-Kun are both really nice people, and their older brother Haru-kun is very nice as well. I'm a lot less nervous about going to school tomorrow since I'll know two people in my school, and both Tsubasa-kun and Haru-kun promised that if anyone bullied me they'd beat them up for me.

I should be fine with this right?

But, why can't I just stop thinking about Natsume? I hope he's okay, hopefully he isn't using his Alice too much.

I looked at the necklace that I never take off, it's a heart shaped pendent, and in its center was the alice stone Natsume gave me when we were 11 years old. Why am I still wearing this? I should've thrown it at him when he was leaving, but I guess I just can't let him go. Why did he hurt me? Even if something was going wrong, he wouldn't have acted that coldly, right?

Maybe… Maybe he's trying to protect me in some way? Like the time when Luna forced him to be with her in order to keep me out of danger. I'm probably just getting my hopes up, but I just can't help it. The Natsume in that classroom wasn't the Natsume that I know.

_Natsume, I love you, and I still believe in you._

Despite the miles and misunderstandings between us, please hear this message.

_Natsume, I love you with all my heart._

_Natsume POV_

Without even knowing, Mikan had subconsciously activated her Telepathy Alice she had inserted into herself before coming into town, I heard her gentle voice inside my head as I was sleeping. I woke from my sleeping and looked out the window.

I looked at necklace that was around my neck, Mikan's Alice stone was at the center of the locket that I had managed to keep out of the hands of Tsuki.

_I love you, Mikan. I promise I'll protect you with all my heart and soul. Please have faith in me._

_

* * *

Mikan's POV_

"TIME TO WAKE UP MIKAN!" Tsubasa yelled outside my door.

I stretched and lightly slapped my face in order to wake myself up. "Yosh! Time for school!" I opened up my closet and realized that I didn't know what to wear.

Someone knocked on my door gently. "Yes come in!"

"Mikan, you might need this," Said Persona who was holding up a sailor uniform. The shirt was plain white and the skirt was black with a red rim on the bottom and there was a black jacket with the schools crest, the morning star symbolizing hope.

"Arigato, Oto-san! I was just wondering what I was going to be wearing for school today."

"You're welcome, and here the bag that the school gave you."

Persona handed me one of those bags that look like a brief case. I've always wondered what those looked like, I usually just used a regular backpack at Gakuen Alice.

* * *

I was nervously waiting outside my new classroom waiting for my new homeroom teacher, Mizuki-Sensei, to call me in.

"Class, time to settle down, now," Sensei said trying to calm down the class. "We have a new student today!"

Thanks to my hearing amplification alice, I heard the students whisper to each other about who the new student would me. All the boys were hoping for a cute girl, and all of the girls wanted a new boy to appear, typical teenagers.

"Okay, class. Quiet down now." Sensei waited for the class to quiet down before she started speaking again. "Sakura-san, you may come in now."

I took a few careful steps into the classroom. Not to brag or anything, but I could have sworn I saw a few boys whisper that I looked cute. I stood next to Mizuki-sensei.

"Would you like to introduce yourself?" She asked kindly.

"Hai," I smiled at her. I bowed and said. "Hello, my name is Mikan Sakura, it's nice to meet you all. Please take care of me."

"MI-CHI!" I looked up and saw Akira-chan stand up screaming. "HI-CHAN! LOOK IT'S MI-CHI!" she started shaking Hiro-kun around, and then she got up and started running towards me to give me a hug.

The whole class sweat-dropped, but I just started laughing at Akira's bubbly personality. At least I won't be alone in the class anymore.

I heard Hiro-kun sigh at his sister's actions. "Aki, you need to calm down and give Mi-chan room to breathe."

"I'm just greeting my new friend! Nothing wrong with that, Hi-chan!"

"Now, now. Mori-chan, why don't you take your seat now?" Sensei said kindly.

"Hai, sensei!" Aki-chan smiled and headed back towards her seat.

I heard Hiro-kun mutter something about his annoying sister but then turned his attention back towards me and he smiled, and I smiled back at him.

"Where did you live before?" a girl in the back yelled out.

"Tokyo." I answered.

"Why do you have a Kansai accent then?" a boy asked politely.

"I use to live in a small village when I was younger, I guess the accent just sort of stuck."

"How do you know Akira-chan and Akihiro-kun?" a girl inquired.

"I bumped into them yesterday on my way to the store."

"Ne, ne! Do you have a boyfriend?" A boy in the corner asked me.

"Oy! Aren't you getting a little too personal now?" Hiro-kun called out.

"Oh, come on! I bet you want to hear her answer too, Mori!" He yelled back.

"Ryo, even if Mi-chi did give you an answer, you wouldn't stand a chance!" Aki-chan yelled back.

I looked up at Mizuki-sensei, pleading her with my eyes to make them stop arguing and she said, "Okay, okay class. You'll have time later to get to know Sakura-san, but for now why don't you read chapters three and four in your English textbooks?"

"Hai, sensei." The class called out.

"Okay, Sakura-san, why don't you sit next to Mori-kun over there in that empty seat near the window?"

"Hai!" I said cheerfully, and I made my way towards my seat.

"Konichiwa, Hiro-kun." I said.

"Hmm, you don't have your books yet, do you?" Sensei noticed.

"No, not yet." I answered politely.

"Mori-kun? Can you share your book with Sakura-san until we can get her a set of books?"

Hiro-kun said yes, and then he pulled his desk closer towards mine and then we started reading and taking notes of the material.

"I can feel daggers towards my back right now," Hiro-kun whispered.

"Nani?" I asked confused about what he had just said.

"Let's just say, you're a very cute girl, Mi-chan."

I blushed at his comment. "Uhm, ano… Thank you, but I'm not cute at all."

"Well, that's what you may think." Hiro-kun smiled at me and continued taking notes.

* * *

Morning classes are finally done! They always go by so slowly.

"Mi-chi!" Aki-chan called out towards me. "This is Minami-chan and Atsushi-kun."

"It's nice to meet you two."

"It's nice to meet you too," Mina-chan said. "Do you want to have lunch with us?"

"If it's alright with you!" I smiled. "Ne, Hiro-kun? Are you going to eat lunch with us too?"

"Yes." He smiled.

* * *

We at lunch on the roof of the school, and while the five of us were talking I found out at Minami-chan and Atsushi-kun have been going out since they were in fourth grade, and that they've been friends with Aki and Hiro since that time too.

"Oh yeah, Hiro-kun, Aki-chan thank you for this morning." I smiled.

"Huh?"

"When that person was asking me if I have a boyfriend, you stopped him. Thank you."

"It's no problem at all!" Aki-chan said. "But would it be alright if you did tell us? I'm sort of curious myself actually."

"Uhm, well. I had a boyfriend shortly before I came here, but he and I broke up because of a few complications." I explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry Mi-chi." Aki-chan said to me.

"It's alright though," I smiled. "There's no doubt in my mind that he and I will find our way towards each other again in the future."

The others around me just smiled and that let me know that they I had their support in whatever happens in my life.

The rest of the day was uneventful, meaning it was a success.

* * *

A month as passed since my arrival in this town. It is now November, precisely two days before Natsume's birthdays, which was on Sunday. I don't know why, but I got him a birthday present even though I won't even be in Tokyo during his birthday. Maybe I can anonymously send it to him?

_Ring. Ring. Ring._

Tsubasa-senpai went over to the phone in the living room. "Hello? …. Haru!...Sunday?... Tokyo, you say….Five of us?...hold on, let me ask Mikan." He covered the receiver with his hand. "Ne, Mikan, do you want to go with Haru, Hiro and Aki to Tokyo Sunday?"

I was pretty astound at my luck. "YES!" I said with the biggest smile I've ever had.

"Sure, we'll go then. Mikan sounds pretty excited." Senpai said to Haru-nii, and then proceeded to say bye and then hang up.

"We're going to be walking around Tokyo, near where Gakuen Alice is. But I don't know if we'll actually pass by it." He gave me a stern look.

I stared at him with a look just a stern as his. "What's with that look, Senpai?"

He started to lecture me. "Look, you and I both know that you want to go see Natsume, and I'm not blaming you for it because I really wouldn't mind seeing Misaki again either, but—"

"I'm not going to see him, not on purpose anyways. It would only hurt Natsume more if I were to see him now. As much as I would love to see him, I can't. I know that." I looked straight at his eyes.

"That present you got him—"

"Will be given to him when everything gets sorted out. Besides, he doesn't even know that I got him anything."

He looks at me unconvinced. "If we walk past the gates?"

"Then we keep walking." I keep the look going between the two of us.

"Even if someone we see is right behind them?" he's just testing out my resolve now.

"We keep walking."

He stares at me, as if trying to find a trace of any lie, but instead his facial expression softens up and he smiles and walks over to me. "You know, Mikan? You sure have grown up." He walks over and gives me a noogie.

"SENPAII! THAT HURTS!" I say out of instinct, but I'm really laughing at his childish ways. He really is like my big brother.

* * *

The car ride over makes me feel very anxious.

I went on this mission knowing full well that I most likely won't even set foot in Tokyo until after the year is up, but now I'm just a few minutes away from being in the same city as Natsume. Oh, Natsume, how are you right now? Do you miss me as much as I miss you? Or maybe I'm just getting my hopes up?

"MIKAN!"

I turned around towards Aki-chan. "Huh? What is it?"

"Jeez! I've been calling you for the past five minutes!" Aki-chan scolded me. "Is something the matter?"

I started shaking my head. "Oh no! Not at all! I just can't wait until we get there!"

"Oh yeah, you guys lived here before you came to Kibo, didn't you?" Haruto said towards Tsubasa-senpai and me.

"Yeah we did, not for very long though." Senpai replied.

"Well, is there anyone you want to visit particularly?" Hiro-kun asked us. "I mean we have the whole weekend here."

"We didn't really stay in Tokyo long enough to make many close friends." I replied.

"OH! I KNOW!" Aki-chan said with her usual perkiness. "Mi-chi's boyfriend lives here, right? Let's track him down and then you two can talk!"

"NO!" Tsubasa senpai said with more force than he meant. "I—uh, I mean…"

"Ooohh? What's this, does Tsubasa here have a sister complex?" Haru started teasing him.

"Hehehe…no, but I don't think Mikan should see him right now. He's a pretty jealous guy so seeing Mikan with Hiro might not be that great." He tried to revert the teasing back to Hiro-kun since he's always the one being teased in this group.

"Tsubasa!" He said with a strong indifference.

Aki-chan pushed Hiro out of the way before he could keep talking. "It's okay! He can hide in the bush or something!"

"Hehe… you'll make him look like a stalker, Aki-chan." I laughed lightly.

"But don't you want to see him?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

"Of course I do, but not right now." After I said that the conversation died out and then Haruto started a new one about the soccer team that he's going to try for when spring comes.

* * *

"MI-CHI! LOOK! IT'S GAKUEN ALICE!" Aki-chan walked up towards the giant gates.

"SHUGOI!" I said with fake enthusiasm. This reminds me of the first time I came here. But that's weird, how does she know about it? I mean, she's always lived in Kibo Town, right? "Ne, how do you know about Gakuen Alice?"

"Oh, our—" Aki-chan started to explain but was interrupted by a giant explosion.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Tsubasa's head turned towards where the explosion is.

Tsubasa-senpai and I went over to the gate and tried to see if we could pinpoint the source of the explosion. All I saw was fire—**Natsume's fire**.

We heard screaming and scolding coming closer to us, or maybe it was just me who heard it because of my hearing amplification alice.

It was Narumi-sensei's voice. "Natsume! You can't just keep blowing up students who mention Mikan-chan, it's not ve—"

Another explosion.

"Natsume! We all miss Sakura-san, but please don't do this to yourself! You're going back to how you were before Sakura-san appeared in our lives!" It was Ruka this time.

I couldn't help but smile. Oh, Natsume, so you do miss me, huh? Well, I miss you too.

Suddenly, we saw figures coming in closer towards us, Ruka-pyon and Natsume. They caught sight of Tsubasa-senpai and me. I just looked straight at them, hoping they would understand not to talk to us. Ruka-pyon walked forward about to come towards me, but Natsume stopped him and nodded his head. He understood.

We stood like that for just a few seconds, but to me, it felt like hours.

I turned away, as did Tsubasa-senpai, and we kept walking forward. But me, being the sneaky little devil that I am, "accidently" dropped the present that I got for Natsume and slid it under the gates, hoping it'll find its way to him.

He'll get it, somehow.

* * *

_Natsume's POV_

I looked back towards the gates, but by the time that I did she was gone again. I wish I could have talked to her and explained everything that's happened, but I couldn't have. For those short few seconds when our eyes were locked, I knew that we had a silent understanding.

I walked towards the gate, hoping to catch a glimpse of her walking away. When I got close enough, I noticed a small square box wrapped in polka dotted paper, this was from her. I looked out the gate and I saw her standing beside a boy with blondeish brown hair. Note to self: singe hair.

"Tch." I walked away from the gate and started walking away by myself. Ruka must have known not to bother me because he didn't follow.

* * *

I was in my room, ignoring all of the noises and knocks from people. I looked at the box that I had placed on my side table. I picked it up, kind of worried about what I'll find inside. What if she's returning my alice stone? Or what if there's a break up letting in it?

I tossed it aside and it banged against the wall, opening it up slightly. It was a simple black and silver dogtag necklace with a black cross on it. She always did know my style. I looked at the back of the dogtag and saw a little scripted wording on it. _Love always, Polka_.

I smirked.

Just like her to do something like that. I picked up the box and a slip of paper fell out.

_Dear Natsume,_

_ Happy birthday! I'm sorry that I couldn't greet you personally today, and I'm sorry for not being able to say goodbye to you either. I truly wish I did, but I'm sure you understand why I couldn't._

_But don't worry! I am okay! You're the type of guy who would worry himself sick over me, so please don't be sad. I could be completely wrong about what I'm thinking, but you never wanted to hurt me right? I mean, I played that scenario in the classroom over a hundred times in my head and it just doesn't add up, does it? Ever since we were just ten years old, we've been protecting each other, and I mean, even our parents protected each other, and us! _

_Remember what everyone calls us? _**The fated pair.**

_We'll find our way back to each other someday. I still believe._

_Love always, Mikan_

Reading the letter brought tears to my eyes.

She still believes in me, in us. She hasn't given up. Mikan, this could be the best birthday present you could have ever given me.

I looked out the window.

When will I see you again Mikan? I just wish I could hold your hand, hug you, kiss you, and know for sure that you're safe. Kage, I may hate your guts but I'm counting on you to keep my girl safe.

* * *

_Mikan's POV_

The sun had already set by the time we started heading back to Kibo Town. Tsubasa-senpai said that he and I would stay over Haru, Hiro and Aki's house since we'd end up back in town after midnight. I was so tired now, Aki dragged all of us around Tokyo to go shopping and even though it was fun my feet are killing me so much right now.

My mind had been stuck on the thought of Natsume behind those gates. He still cares, but now I just want to know what's happening with Tsuki, why would he be with her? He's clearly trying to protect me, but what could be so bad that it would cause him to choose her over me? I mean, not to sound cocky or anything but I'm pretty darn sure that he likes me more than her!

Thinking back to that meeting reminded me of something that happened earlier. "Ne, Aki? How did you know about Gakuen Alice? You looked really excited about it."

I saw Haruto look back at us through the rearview mirror. "Our mother went there."

I could tell that Tsubasa-senpai tensed up at the comment. "So your mother was an alice?" he inquired.

"Yep! She said that she met our father there when she was around eight years old. Our mother had telekinesis and our father had a really strong music alice." Aki-chan replied.

"So, are you guys alices?" I asked. "I mean, most people with alices end up having children with alices."

"How do you know that?" Hiro asked, suspicious of my knowledge.

I looked at Tsubasa-senpai and he nodded his head. "Go ahead and show them Mikan."

I concentrated at the palm of my hand, creating a small but evident flame in the middle. I looked at Hiro and Aki's faces and when I know that they've seen the flame I extinguish it.

"You have a fire alice?" They both said in amazement.

"Well, not exactly. I have two alices, nullification and the steal and insertion alice." And then, Tsubasa-senpai and I continued to explain our mission.

"So…do you have an alice?" we asked cautiously. I'm pretty sure Tsubasa-senpai and I were very glad that we were in the car because they were all too kind to just throw us out in the middle of traffic.

I saw Haruto nod towards them and Aki sighed and said, "Yes. Haruto and I both have telekinesis and Akihiro has the music alice."

"Sugoi! Tsubasa-senpai, can you believe this?" I smiled at him.

"It's pretty amazing that the three people we become friends with ends up having an alice," He relaxes into his seat knowing that half of our mission has been completed within just a month. "Do you guys know anything about the string of incidents happening in and around Kibo?"

"Before you came, we've been trying to help keep things under control for them, but we haven't been able to do anything very big to help because if we do then we'll be in danger." Haruto explained.

"Danger?"

Hiro had the angriest look that I've ever seen. "Yes. They have our father."

"How? Tell us everything that happened." Tsubasa-senpai said to them.

"It all started five years ago…" Haruto begins.

* * *

_So, one thing that I've been thinking about is to try different forms of writing for each chapter. For example, this chapter is all in different people's point of views so the next chapter might be in all third person POV. I don't know if I should or shouldn't do that, so can you guys give me your opinions on that?_

_Also, just please review and make suggestions on it. :)_


	4. Chapter 4: Unexpected

_So here's chapter 4 everyone! Sorry for the long wait, I've had a lot of studying to do at school, but now it's summer vacation and I'll most likely have more updates. Hope you enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 4: Unexpected**

"It all started five years ago…" Haruto began. "I was about thirteen years old, Akihiro and Akira were only eight at the time, when we started hearing noises playing in the night. It was a cold December day, the first snowfall when our mother and father went out to see what all the fuss was about. They told me to stay home and watch the twins, but I couldn't sit still as the minutes turned into hours.

It was nearly midnight, precisely three hours since they had left, when Hiro came into the living room wondering why I was still awake. I told him that I was waiting for our parents, but he wanted to know where they were too. I made him go back to bed, and I ended up leaving the house to try and look for our parents. The noise had stopped about an hour ago and I was expecting mom and dad to come back, but they never did. I was wondering outside in the cold for a long time, I don't exactly know how long, but it was just getting colder and colder, when suddenly I heard the sound of a violin. I knew that it was my father playing it."

"How did you know that though?" Mikan asked.

"I knew because our father was always carrying his violin around and the G string was out of tune and he never found the time to fix it. Even though he was playing it, it sounded evil, sinister even and I knew that something was wrong. I listened to it for a while when I realized that the noise was attracting little children out of their houses. They were walking in the cold, in lines two by two, towards the source of the music. I was about to follow along when I heard someone yelling. Akihiro was shouting after Akira. When I went over to them I tried to stop Akira, but she wouldn't wake up. Hiro said that he woke up when he heard Akira open the door and he kept shouting for her to stop but she just kept going. He said that he even tried hitting her with a shoe."

"A shoe? That's the best you could come up with?" Akira said towards Akihiro.

"I was eight, give me a break." He replied in his defense.

Haruto chuckled sadly but continued his story, "When I picked her up she started flailing her arms and legs around, she even kicked me in the nose with her stinky little feet, so I had no choice but to knock her out. I started wondering why Akihiro hadn't been affected, but then I realized that there were more important things to do. I told Hiro to take Akira back to the house and I started following the children.

They led me towards the park, and on the top of the jungle gym was my father playing the violin with a pained expression on his face. I looked around for my mother and I found her chained to a tree, knocked out. I used my telekinesis to lift up a rock and hit my father with it in order to snap him out of whatever trace he was in, but then that guy over there distracted me." Haru pointed towards Akihiro.

"Why? What did he do?" Tsubasa said wanting to know more.

"After I locked and tied Akira in the house, I ran off towards the park because I wanted to know what was going on. When I got there I saw our father playing his violin and I wanted to know why he was hypnotizing all of the children with his Alice. I was about to run up to him, but Haru-nii saw me and he had to grab me to make me stop. He started yelling at me, telling me to go back home, but I kept refusing to. Our father noticed us for a short few seconds and he stopped playing but then there was a slight ping and Haruto ended up passing out but I had no idea why I was still awake. I managed to drag Haru-nii behind a bush. I looked back up at my father, he had a pained expression on his face, and I could tell that he was being controlled. He wanted to stop, but he knew that if he did we would only get hurt even further. His eyes were pleading for me to save my mother, and I knew that at the time it was all that I could do. I snuck over towards where my mother was tied up in chains and no matter what I did I couldn't undo them. Then I heard another ping, although this time it was louder and sharper than the first one that I heard. It gave me a small headache, but nothing more. My father stopped playing and then he, along with the other children were taken away by some men. I tried to stop them, but I couldn't, I was too small, too weak at the time. After a few minutes, Haru-nii woke up and he ran over towards us. He tried to use his telekinesis to free our mother, but it didn't work very well. I had no choice but to pull out my piccolo that I always carried around, and I played a sharp note that caused the chains to cut. After that, Haruto and I carried our mother back home."

Mikan couldn't believe that they had been through. "What about the children? And your father?"

Akira spoke up. "The children came back three days later, not knowing what happened, and our father is still with them." Akira started to cry, and Mikan and Akihiro started to comfort her.

Haruto stopped at a red light and Tsubasa took the opportunity to ask, "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Just about a month before you guys came. They usually pulled off those stunts at least once a month, no one's really worried very much since the children always come back, but we, along with our mother, still try to figure out what's been going on." Haruto explained.

"Wait, you say it stopped when we came?" Mikan asked worriedly.

"Yes, we found it very strange but we never thought you had anything to do with it since we had no clue that you guys were alices." Akihiro said.

"Senpai?" Mikan looked at her upperclassman for a confirmation.

"Yes, they know we're here to stop them so they don't want to draw any attention only to be stopped" Tsubasa concluded.

"That explains it then," Haruto thought for a minute. "But, how do you know that they'd be stopped?"

"The academy's been monitoring the situation very closely for a few months now. Not only that but we came here with Persona, I don't kno—"

"You mean the one with the 'death' alice?" Akira asked when you sobs stopped. Mikan and Tsubasa nodded. "Our mother told us about him. She said that he was a very scary man that you shouldn't take too lightly."

"That's him alright. He's really strong, if we find those people then we'll surely be able to save your father." Mikan smiled at her friends.

"We need to get home quickly and inform Persona," Tsubasa said. "Mikan, just this once, transport everyone including the car back to Haru's house. It's dark enough so they'll all just assume that they need more sleep."

* * *

And in a blink of an eye, Mikan used her teleportation alice to transport them all back to Kibo town. They walked into Haruto, Akihiro and Akira's house only to find their mother having a cup of tea with Persona.

"How'd you get here?" Tsubasa yelled.

"Mikan sent me a message." Persona said without much emotion.

"So then you know already?" Tsubasa asked.

"Yes, and Natsuko here already told me what she thought the enemy has been doing." He answered.

Mikan looked at her friend's mother and noticed that she was about to start crying. Natsuko ran over towards Mikan and hugged her tightly. "Huh?" Mikan said wondering what was going on.

"Oh my, gomen," she wiped away her tears and let go of her embrace. She placed both of her hands on Mikan's shoulders. "It's just that… You look so much like your parents, especially your mother."

"You knew my parents?" Mikan stared dumbfounded.

"Oh yes. Your mother was one of my senpai's that I admired so much, and your father was one of my favorite sensei's during my entire school life in that school. Oh my, it's like I get to see my favorite senpai again!" She smiled.

Mikan smiled back at her greatly and she laughed, "Please tell me more about them one day!"

"Well, you look just like your mother when she was your age, and I believe you have your father's laughter and spirit." She started.

"Oh, she clearly has her father's spirit," Persona interjected. "I hear she even inherited her father's brains."

"Mouu~ You've been talking to Uncle too much!" Mikan complained.

"Was that a joke just now?" Tsubasa whispered to himself, baffled at Persona's not so uptight demeanor.

Natsuko chuckled. "Your mother was about four years older than me, she was my ability class, and even though she wasn't always very cheerful she was always kind towards me. Even when she had problems she had to deal with she would always try and help me to the best of her ability. When she got older she started hanging out with the Special class, and she took me there one day and I was able to get to know all of her friends. I liked her so much that I was even able to put up with Narumi whenever he was around."

"You know Narumi-sensei?" Mikan inquired.

"Unfortunately. He was just such a hopeless little kid who would always follow Yuka-senpai around. He and I were in the same class since we were little and he always bullied me. But Hiroaki, my husband, always fought with him to make him nicer to me. I suppose I should really thank Narumi one day though, it's like he was my cupid in a way. He'd probably slap himself silly knowing that he helped me." She laughed.

"Why didn't Narumi like you though?" Tsubasa asked.

"Oh, it's because he and I were always around senpai but he was selfish and wanted her all to himself," She chuckled. "Whenever he was mean to me and Hiroaki was busy arguing with him I would always cry to Yuka-senpai and Kaoru-senpai. There were a lot of fun times back then despite all the troubles. Your parents would be so proud of you."

"Arigato!" Mikan smiled brightly. "You knew Kaoru Hyuuga?"

"Oh yes, she was very intimidating but kind, just like her son." She answered.

"You know that annoying little Natsume?" Tsubasa asked.

"We all do," Akihiro answered. "We've visited them a few times."

"After I got out of Gakuen Alice, I contacted Kaoru-senpai because I knew she was trying to oppose the school and I wanted to help. I've kept in touch with the Hyuuga's even after senpai's death," Natsuko expanded. "I try to visit them every now and then, and I would take these guys with me if they're on vacation or something. I've also met with the Nogi's on some occasions."

"So you know Ruka-pyon, too?" Mikan asked.

"Pyon?" Akihiro asked with a slight touch of annoyance at the cute way of calling him. He had no idea why he suddenly felt like that. He remembered, nearly a month ago, when Mikan had told the group that she was waiting to be with someone again, he remembered how he had felt slightly hurt and confused by it. Could Ruka be the guy? He couldn't help but wonder why he was even thinking this, whoever the lucky guy was it was clear that it wasn't him, so why even think of the possibility?

"I've called him that since we were around 10 years old because he always has his rabbit with him. I guess old habits die hard." She smiled.

"We met him along with Natsume last year," Akira told Mikan. "They're pretty cute guys, huh?"

"Haha, yeah they're really popular at school. They have fan groups and everything." Mikan laughed although she was still slightly touchy at the subject of Natsume.

"Yeah, yeah. So which one is yours?" Akira laughed.

"Akira. Now's not the time for your gossip." Akihiro started getting a little jealous, although he did want to know who Mikan liked.

"He's right. Now's not the time for that sort of stuff," Persona spoke. "We need to find a way to save Hiroaki."

* * *

During the course of the next few weeks the group of seven had began researching the incidents with the children. Since Persona had shown up in Kibo, they had moved their operations to various places surrounding their town.

They had managed to figure out a few key facts:

They were using some sort of mind melody that Hiroaki uses only affects the minds of younger were searching for something, or someone.

And

The most likely culprit is Reo Mouri.

They had found the last fact while they were searching the scene of one of the crimes. Someone had dropped an Alice control device, and when they had sent it back to the lab in the school it was confirmed to have belonged to Reo Mouri.

* * *

But as of right now, that was the least of Akihiro's worries, because in two days it would be Christmas and his friends had been pestering him to confess to Mikan that he likes her. Everyone had managed to easily figure out that Akihiro liked her and now they're determined to get him an answer.

They had given him an ultimatum, tell Mikan by the time they get back to school or else they'll tell her for him.

He knew that they weren't trying to be mean to him or anything, they just wanted him to get an answer before it was too late and he ended up regretting it, but he also knew that it was a little unfair. They did make a good point though; he didn't want to end up regretting never letting his feelings be heard, but he already knew the answer didn't he?

_Rejection._ He thought. _She's already in love with someone, and she's waiting for him. Watch it be Ruka or Natsume, the two "hot" guys at Gakuen Alice._

He felt frustrated and he just couldn't sit still anymore, so he decided to go out for a walk.

* * *

_Why? _Akihiro thought.

Just how did he manage to end up right in front of Mikan's house, he had no clue. He stood there for a moment and then started scratching his head in frustration.

"I heard that if you keep doing that, you'll lose brain cells, Hiro-kun."

Hiro looked up and saw Mikan standing on top of her balcony giggling at him. 'He must have looked like an idiot' was the only thing that was going through his head.

"Haha, I'm sure I can afford to lose a few, unlike a few brunets I know." He said teasingly.

"Mou~ you're so mean," Mikan laughed. "But why all the frustration?"

Akihiro thought for a few moments and then said, "Do you have some time, now?"

"Of course! I'll be down in a few." She said in her usual perky voice.

* * *

Akihiro took Mikan to the park, they were both sitting on the swings. It was silent, but not the kind of silent where it's awkward, the kind that was just quiet and peaceful.

"Why were you so frustrated earlier?" Mikan asked Hiro innocently.

Hiro took a deep breath and stared at the sky while he was trying to figure out what he was going to say. He looked over at Mikan, the bright and cheerful girl that he's somehow fallen for in only two months. He took another deep breath and said, "Well…it's just that…."

"What is it?" Mikan said with a worried expression on her face.

"I think that… no I know I…..I'm URGH!" Akihiro yelled out in frustration.

Mikan giggled politely, but then stopped. "Sorry, but you just looked so cute when you're frustrated. Just calm down and tell me if you want to, okay?"

"Over the last two months that I've known you…" Hiro said slowly, "I've started to really like you."

"I'm glad! I really like you too! It's been so much fun getting to know everyone in this town." Mikan smiled brightly. Even though she's older now, and she's gotten much more mature, she's still as oblivious as always.

"No…Mikan, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I mean, I like you. Not as just a friend, but as something more."

"Oh…" Mikan had to think for a while. How was she supposed to respond to Hiro? He's been a good friend to her, but she still had feelings for Natsume, although she's not even sure if all the hope that she's held onto for so long were even worth holding onto anymore. "Hiro, I –"

"I know you're still waiting for someone back in Gakuen Alice, and I know that the person you're waiting for is really important to you, but can you at think about what I said?" Hiro said hesitantly. "You don't have to give me an answer right away. Please?"

"Sure." She smiled up at him.

* * *

It was December 24th and Mikan was laying in bed patiently waiting for the next day when she would be able to open up her presents. She and Tsubasa have been feeling a little grumpy considering the fact they were missing the Christmas Party at Gakuen Alice right now. This was the first time that Tsubasa would miss it, and would not be able to dance with Misaki, and although Mikan had missed the celebration once when she was younger, she still felt very upset about it.

While Mikan was sitting on her bed, she still

"Come in," Mikan said when she heard a knock. "Doors open."

Persona and Tsubasa walked into her room and Persona said, "Mori-chan invited the three of us to go with her family on a small holiday."

Tsubasa said, "They want us to go with them to visit the Hyuuga's and the Nogi's so we can go if you want to."

"We get to see Aoi-chan? And Ruka-Pyon? And Natsume, too?" Mikan asked excitedly.

Tsubasa smiled at her, "Yep."

* * *

**Mikan's POV**

I was sitting in the van with the Mori's, senpai and Persona. Akira and Akihiro's mother and Persona were sitting in the front talking about a subject that I couldn't really understand, Tsubasa-senpai and Haru-nii were snoring in the second row of seats and I was sitting in the back with Akihiro and Akira. Hiro was in the middle and I was sitting towards the left of him.

I knew he wanted an answer, and I wanted to give him one earlier but we never got a chance to be alone and I don't want to make this awkward car ride even more awkward than it already is. I'm sort of glad for that though, I still don't know what to say to him. I know I can't say yes to him, because of my feelings for Natsume, but I don't know if I can say a definite no. I mean, thinking that Natsume is somehow protecting me after leaving me is just an assumption, and if that assumption is wrong then who's to say I can't find myself liking Hiro in the future? So, basically I don't know if I should tell Hiro a no, or a no-no. Does that make any sense at all?

All this thinking is making my head hurt, a lot. We still have another two hour drive, so I might as well take a nap. I laid my head on the cold, hard window and closed my eyes. Akihiro pulled my head towards his shoulder so I could have a softer pillow to lie on. It was comfortable so I smiled and kept my head there.

* * *

Akihiro shook me awake when we got to the house. I rubbed my eyes and I saw that Natsume's father and sister were outside waiting for us along with Ruka-Pyon and his mother. He saw me, and he started smiling but then he realized that I had just been laying my head on Akihiro. I think I may have some explaining to do now.

"RUKA-PYON!" I ran over to give him a big hug. "Hi, Usa-chan." I said to his rabbit.

"Konichiwa, Sakura-san."

"Mou~ I've known you since we were 10 years old! Stop being so polite already!"

Ruka-pyon laughed, "Okay, Mikan-chan."

"That's much better," I smiled. I felt a tug behind me. "AOI-CHAN!" I attacked her with a tight hug.

"MIKAN-CHAN!" she yelled back, "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"It's so good to see you, how are things?" I asked.

"It's pretty good." She smiled at me. "I've been working hard to keep the house clean and welcoming for Oni-chan, and thanks to you he can actually come and visit us."

"Is he inside the house?" I wondered out loud.

"No…he went for a walk earlier." She seemed a little nervous for some reason, but I dismissed it. "Let's go inside, Narumi-sensei and Misaki-sensei are inside too."

"Really? Oh I can't wait to see them!" I yelled out.

"SENSEEII!" I jumped over to give Narumi-sensei a big hug. "I missed you so much!"

"Oh, I bet you did!" Narumi-sensei said. "But I'm very upset with you! You never said bye!"

"I'm sorry!" I said to him. "I just kind of left suddenly, that's why…I really only said goodbye to Hotaru-chan…"

"I was ready to go chase after you, but this guy," Narumi-sensei pointed towards Misaki-sensei, "Wouldn't let me." He made a pouty face.

"If it makes you feel better, she never said bye to me either." Ruka-pyon interrupted.

"She didn't have to say bye to me!" Tsubasa-senpai said suddenly which caused Narumi-sensei to throw a present at his head. "Itai! What was that for?"

"It's from Misaki." He smiled slyly at him. "And the rest of your gifts from your friends are under the tree. Natsume and Ruka didn't want to open them without you two."

"YAY!" At that moment, I felt truly happy. "Oh, let me go get the presents that we got for you guys!"

"Do you want any help, squirt?" Tsubasa-senpai offered.

"I'll go help her." Akihiro said all of a sudden.

I looked over at him, and smiled happily. "Thanks!"

* * *

We walked over to the car and started digging around. "Boy, there's a huge mess here…"

"Blame Haruto. He's such a moron sometimes, never keeps the car clean." Hiro said.

"Be nicer to him! It's the holidays after all." I said.

"So…I don't mean to make this awkward or anything but…did you think about what I said a few days ago?" Akihiro asked me.

"I thought about it…" I started off slowly, "And I realized that I can't say yes to you. There's too many things in my head right now for me to think about starting any sort of relationship with someone."

"That's fine," He said. "I understand why you're saying that, so it's fine."

"Thank you." I smiled

We managed to find the two bags of presents, one was presents from me and the others were presents from Tsubasa. We had a little trouble getting them out without dropping anything else from the car, which obviously means that everything in the car fell out. We looked at each other and started laughing hysterically for some reason. It was probably from all the awkward tension that we were feeling while it was quiet.

The two of us sat down on the car, still trying to calm down after laughing so much. "I don't even know why we're laughing so much!"

"Haha… I….Don't know….either!" Akihiro said between his giggles.

"Tch."

My laughter stopped immediately. I still remember that "tch" so well. It was the one and only, Natsume. He was staring at Akihiro and me, and he had a look that he has right before he injures someone. Is he jealous or something? Oh wait, I should stop thinking so much and talk to him, but what should I say? I haven't talked to him in two months, and the last time he saw me I was crying.

Just as I was about to speak, a figure started running towards Natsume. "Nat-chan!" Ew. I hate that voice. She playfully slapped Natsume's arm and said, "You silly boy, I told you to wait up for me! I'm too out of breath after making— Oh, hey, Sakura! Haven't seen you in a while. Sorry about how Natsume chose me over you and all, I felt _so_ horrible about it! But I guess I shouldn't feel that way, right? Looks like you have yourself a new boy toy! All for the best, right?" She said it to me with such a fake voice that I wanted to strangle her.

"Ne, Natsume?" She continued. "We better get inside; you still haven't shown me your bedroom!"

"Sure. Let's go, Tsuki" Natsume said and pulled her hand into the house.

"Bye, Sakura! We HAVE to catch up later, kay?" I swear, her voice is the worst thing in the world.

"Sure, can't wait. Have fun with _Nat-chan_." I replied.

* * *

_I hope you all likes it! Don't forget to review._


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